Graduate job imaginaries and labour precarity

The promise and limits of higher education and social mobility for rural Nigerians

Bibliographic Data

ID22417368
AuthorsYusuf Damilola Olaniyan (0000-0003-4773-8822, University of Bath, corresponding author)
Year2026
Publication date2026-03-16
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueIndustry and Higher Education (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0950-4222 • E-ISSN: 2043-6858
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/09504222261436499
OpenAlexW7136548542
LanguageEN
References cited19

This research contributes to the global understanding of employability debates, specifically, why graduates from rural and disadvantaged communities in Nigeria struggle to secure employment despite earning university degrees meant to enable social mobility. Drawing on 30 interviews and guided by Mamdani’s (1996) account of decentralised despotism and Bourdieu’s concepts of capital and habitus, it examines how place, social connections, and labour-market imaginaries of “success” shape who gets hired. Findings show that a degree alone rarely opens doors because opportunities are tied to proximity to cities, professional certifications, and informal networks that structure recruitment and referrals. Many rural graduates relocate, pursue extra credentials, and rely on “who you know” to compete, efforts largely invisible in education and employment policy. Rather than a skills gap, graduate precarity reflects spatialised inequalities that advantage urban and well-connected candidates. The article argues for spatial justice policies that widen pathways beyond metropolitan centres, reform recruitment transparency and redefine what counts as graduate work.

Disadvantaged · Employability · Higher education · Inequality · Metropolitan area · Nigerians · Precarity · Social capital · Social mobility · Higher Education and Employability · Medical and Agricultural Research Studies · Migration and Labor Dynamics

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Open DOIOpen Access